Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is expected to make changes to his starting XI for tonight’s Premier League visit of Arsenal to Selhurst Park due to injury concerns to two key players.
Star wingers Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise - who together have 24 goal involvements in all competitions between them this season - both returned from international duty with injuries, leaving their places in the team to face the Gunners on Monday night in doubt.
Zaha, representing Ivory Coast, injured his hamstring and was forced to sit out of the friendly against England at Wembley in which teammates Marc Guehi, Conor Gallagher and Tyrick Mitchell were all part of the Three Lions squad. Olise was unable to train for France’s Under-21s meanwhile after suffering a foot injury. Both Zaha and Olise have been assessed by Palace over the weekend, though with a key FA Cup semi-final round the corner against Chelsea it would be a risk to start either of them were they deemed playable. Of the pair, Zaha seems the more likely to feature of the two.
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"[Zaha] is still in the medical room," Vieira said in his pre-match press conference last Thursday. "We will see how it is going to be tomorrow, but we have to wait for the next couple of days before thinking about him starting training with the squad. We have until Monday so hopefully he will get better, and he can have a couple of days of training with the team. We have to wait and see what will happen over the next couple of days. The good thing about Wilfried is that he does not get injured very often. That is the hope about that. We just have to wait and see day after day."
Vieira added that both Zaha and Olise had a chance of featuring against Arsenal but even if they don’t make it the squad should be boosted by the return of experienced midfielder James McArthur to match action as well as Nathan Ferguson. McArthur missed 12 weeks of the season due to a hamstring tear before suffering another knock upon his return in February. Ferguson’s long-term injury problems are well documented, though he will now be hoping to finish the season strongly and build on the handful of minutes he got away at Spurs on Boxing Day.
"Both of them started training with the team, which is good news for us," Vieira said when asked about the status of McArthur and Ferguson on Thursday. "If everything goes well this week they can be part of the squad on Monday."
Vieira might also make changes elsewhere from the team that started the FA Cup quarter-final win over Everton a fortnight ago. Jeffrey Schlupp missed that game through suspension and Eberechi Eze played well in his place, though the Ghanaian international has earned Vieira’s trust in the midfield of late. Schlupp might well partner Cheikhou Kouyate and Conor Gallagher in the same trio that did so well against Wolves and Manchester City last month, with McArthur and Eze both potential options to introduce off the bench.
